Kasich Defies All Odds--A Tale of Chaos During the Trump Years

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

I am starting my first timeline based on my post in the "Independent Kasich Campaign" thread. I think this is a solid outline for a 5 candidate brawl in the 2020 Presidential Election, although I may tweak it a little bit. I know that there is another timeline about Kasich winning in 2016, but this is a completely different scenario. I will start the timeline at around July 2017, and I have more twists and turns in store for the events leading up to, during, and after the election. Feedback is always welcome. Any suggestions?
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=267372.0

Democrats: Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)/ Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) 217 EVs 24% PV (Red)
Republicans: President Donald Trump (R-NY)/ Vice President Mike Pence (R-IN) 83 EVs 22.5% PV (Blue)
Independent Moderates: Former Governor John Kasich (R-OH)/ Former Governor John Hickenlooper (D-CO) 121 EVs 21% PV (Yellow)
Democratic Socialists: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)/ Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) 117 EVs 20% PV (Green)
Libertarians: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)/ Justin Amash (R-MI) 0 EVs 12.5% PV (Gray)
There was brutal infighting within both parties as Trumps scandals worsen (he is impeached over obstruction of justice after Democrats take the house in 2018 and is acquitted by a two vote margin) , the AHCA passes and result in an even larger increase in premiums and millions unable to afford coverage, the economy slows down to a halt as a recession is pending, Trump invades Iran and Syria, and a divisive primaries result in third party bids. Kasich primaries Trump as a moderate centrist option, and Rand Paul runs as a libertarian leaner and both lost handily to Trump. The Democratic primaries begin with 20 candidates which later ends as a contest Bernie and Booker after Super Tuesday. Bernie represents the progressive wing and the WWC while Booker goes after black and brown voters. Bernie ends with with a small delegate lead, but Booker's Super PACs bribe most superdelegates and delegates of states won by other candidates. Booker wins the Democratic nomination on the second round of voting, and Bernie storms out of the convention hall and announces his bid for the White House the following morning. The general election campaigns are brutal, but satisfying for voters as 40 million adults register to vote for the first time as people realize that there will be no wasted votes in any state this election. Trump enters the general election with a 19% approval rating due to the large casualties in his incompetently fought wars and orders the troops to shoot thousands of protesters during the Labor Day anti-war protests of 2020 across America in which 20 million Americans participated in as well as continued turmoil in Congress, and race relations continue to spiral out of control. The biggest surprise on election day was when Trump reached 4th place in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives must choose between Booker, Sanders, and Kasich. Congressional Democrats split between Booker and Sanders while Kasich narrowly wins with the hesitant support of most Republicans as some far-right Republicans abstain from voting. Kasich is later inaugurated and must re-unify the country as he pledges to work with the Democratic controlled congress to combat the collapsing economy and end the wars.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

July 2017

July 1st

President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announce that they will kill the Senate healthcare bill, and call for the Senate to pass a bill to only repeal Obamacare and worry about replacing it later.

July 4th

Trump spends his 4th of July away from the press at his New Jersey golf resort. He tweets, "We just have to get rid of the disaster, Obamacare. We will replace it with something great! Believe me! The crooked media is lying to you."

July 5th

Kim Jong Un tests another nuclear missile that explodes in the Pacific half way between Japan and Alaska. This puts the U.S. military under high alert. Trump tweets, " If that little chump Kim Jong Un fires another missile, I will have to do something big! We got to do it!"

July 6th

Trump visits Poland and praises its government for meeting its 2% of GDP contribution to NATO, and says that its policies are an excellent example that should be followed by other European countries. This statement sets a negative tone with both the EU and Russia right before the G-20 summit in Germany where he will meet with Putin, Merkel, and Macron among others.

July 7th and 8th

Trump then goes to Germany where he gives a speech that calls for unity and support against North Korean aggression. He continued to deny any Russian interference in the election, and he hugged Putin to the dismay of EU leaders. He also squeezes the hand of Macron hard enough that he needed medical care. Merkel then gave a speech calling for greater European unity due to the "volatility and unreliability of the American political leadership."

July 11th
 
On the first day that both houses of Congress return to work, Trump meets with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and announce that they will put a repeal only bill up for a vote on Thursday. Democrats are furious over this, as well as some Republicans from Medicaid expansion states as Republican leadership is tight lipped about Medicaid expansion in the replace bill that Congress will not start working on until after the repeal bill is passed.

July 12th

Opinion polls state that the new Republican plan to only repeal right now and replace later is less unpopular than the AHCA as 38% support the new plan and 55% oppose--mirroring Trump's approval rating. However, the Republican Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, and his friend the Democratic Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, agree to another joint interview condemning Trump's healthcare plans. Kasich warns that Trump, McConnell, and Ryan are "playing with people's lives in a nasty political game" and Hickenlooper says that the American people shouldn't trust Trump and congress to act in the best interest of everyday working Americans.

July 14th
 
The House of Representatives vote 226-205 in favor of repealing Obamacare, and it goes to the Senate tomorrow for a speedy review by the committee, and Mitch McConnell hopes to put it to a vote before midnight. Immediately after the bill passes, large protest groups storm into the offices of Senators who plan on voting for the bill. Capitol police try to force all of them out of the building, but one officer fires into the crowd, killing three protestors. The use of such heavy force shocks both mainstream and social media as they are outraged. At around 3 AM the next morning, Trump tweets, "GREAT JOB CAPITOL POLICE! We need to get all of these paid bloodthirsty radicals out of the sacred halls of our government! The media will will go after me, but the silent majority will continue to stand with me! They want terrific healthcare, and I will give it to them. MAGA!"

July 15th

The House repeal bill enters the Senate Health committee, and it is approved on a party line vote with only a little unrelated pork added to the bill. Then it is voted on the entire senate floor. Mitch McConnell made some backroom deals earlier in the week with some GOP senators by allowing blue state senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to vote no on the bill, and he promised to put some extra pork in the next inconspicuous spending bill for the states of Ohio, West Virginia, Alaska, and Louisiana in order to get those moderate Republicans to vote the repeal. Mitch also secretly promised to protect Medicaid spending to those Senators. Since McConnell has the moderates and the far-right satisfied, he can put the repeal only bill up for a vote. That afternoon it passed 50-50 with Vice President Pence casting the tiebreaker. Then, the bill immediately goes back to the House for a final vote before midnight. It passes with 220 ayes, 207 nays, and 4 abstaining. Trump tweets his congratulations to Congress for speeding the bill through, and he plans to sign the repeal bill the following morning.

[Canis]

Great work keep it up I can't wait to see how the dems split up

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Great work keep it up I can't wait to see how the dems split up

Thanks. Currently the Democrats are just opposing Trump; nothing too malicious has happened... yet!

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

July 16th

President Trump, flanked by his family and members of Congress and his cabinet, signs the repeal of Obamacare as it is broadcasted live on TV while the whole world watches. Afterwards, Trump celebrates with McConnell and Ryan among others involved in repealing Obamacare at a surprise state dinner. Unknowingly to Trump, a news outlet puts a secret small camera on Trump's personal waiter's suit that streams directly to that news outlet's computer. All this guy has to do is wait for the perfect moment to release the footage to the world. Meanwhile, people march into the streets all across America against the repeal of Obamacare.

July 17th
 
500,000 people spontaneously gather to march in Washington DC on a Monday against the repeal of Obamacare along with at least a million others in other cities across America. Also, many members of Congress showed up to the protest including Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, Kamala Harris, Tulsi Gabbard, and Tim Ryan as well as former President Barack Obama. When one protest in Atlanta turns into a violent riot, the police respond by shooting 20 rioters--killing 6 of them (all of them are black). Meanwhile, Congress was eerily quiet today as McConnell and Ryan announce that they will not start negotiations on replacing Obamacare until after they return from the Summer Recess.

July 18th
 
More rioting has occurred all day in Atlanta while the police force has been under strict orders from Mayor Kasim Reed to not shoot any rioter unless directly ordered to do so by the mayor himself. This resulted in three officers being shot dead (all three are white) until a black officer shoots the assailant. That night, Trump tweeted, "Kasim Reed is a pathetic loser. He's responsible for the deaths of three of our heroic police officers. He ought to resign. #lockhimup" Almost immediately, Cory Booker replies to Trump's tweet by saying, "You're the criminal who needs be locked up for your own crimes and for inciting the racism that caused this mess in the first place."

July 19th

Protests and riots continue to spread across American cities over the Atlanta shootings and healthcare. There have been some tense encounters between Anti-Trump demonstrators and Trump supporters in cites such as Pittsburgh where about a hundred were arrested, and ten people are critically injured after a large street brawl broke out. Notably, Senator Cory Booker, Kasim Reed, and Congressman John Lewis appear at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Washington. Also, many liberal organizations are planning for a large nationwide protest for BLM and healthcare this weekend that they hope would be about the same size as the post inauguration Women's March. In other news, President Trump summoned his cabinet and generals for an emergency meeting after North Korea fires another missile into the Pacific. It exploded in the Pacific only 200 miles from Anchorage, AK.

July 21st

Some of the social unrest in America has calmed down in preparation for the protests scheduled for tomorrow. At a UN security council meeting, Ambassador Nikki Haley called for China and Russia to close their borders with North Korea and to halt all trade with them. She and Rex Tillerson are also holding secret talks with their Chinese and Russian counterparts. Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un gave a fiery speech to his troops saying, "We will destroy the American imperialist dogs and liberate their criminal regime in the south should they ever dare to attack our glorious land and our superior Korean people. The American cowards shall deeply regret invading us! We will pile mountains of bodies of these big nosed idiots who desire to die for their orange monkey emperor!" Trump responded to Kim's rhetoric by tweeting, "Lil' Kim thinks he's some tough guy. Guess what? He's going to have hell to pay! America and the oppressed North Korean people are going to win big! China and Russia hate them so much that they will get behind us. Everyone knows what is the right thing to do!"


July 22nd and 23rd
This weekend there were large protests across the United States against police brutality and Trump's policies. In Washington, 1.2 million people showed up to demonstrations over the weekend. A million protested in Los Angeles, as well as 900,000 in the San Francisco area, 800,000 in New York, 700,000 in Chicago, 600,000 in Philadelphia, 500,000 in Atlanta and Boston, as well as 5 million more in other cities. The turnout surprised everyone as millions of people joined the protests. Many important members of Congress and celebrities appeared at the demonstrations such as Bernie Sanders, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Al Franken, Kasim Reed, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, and Cory Booker. Meanwhile, in a big beautiful park in Columbus, Ohio, John Kasich holds an outdoor town hall rally where he answers questions about various issues and he condemned the bitter partisanship and violence as well as Trump's policies. His event was well received by the crowd and commentators. Some even speculate that he will run against Trump in the primaries or launch an independent bid in 2020. A few protests turn violent, such as one in New Orleans where a man fires into a crowd of people, killing 12. Trump tweets, "The liberal media is overestimating the sizes of these crowds of paid criminal hooligans that are willing to kill and cause damage just because they want to get rid of me. We will have to do some big things in order to stop the killing. Good luck because I'm not leaving until 2025! The American people elected me because they are on my side! #MAGA."

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

How are you all liking this so far? Any questions, comments or concerns are welcome. Feedback is always appreciated.

[Canis]

How are you all liking this so far? Any questions, comments or concerns are welcome. Feedback is always appreciated.

Its great I can't wait to read the next part

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

July 24th

This morning, Chinese and Russian troops arrive at the North Korean border and start patrolling it, and they began building a border wall on their side. This has caught the North Koreans completely off guard. They suddenly stop all cars, trains, and airplanes from entering or leaving North Korea. The South Koreans also block off their few border crossings. Trump tweets, "Thanks to my wonderful staff, we got China and Russia on board with us on North Korea. We are winning bigly, but the media won't tell it to you like that. Who cares? I don't!"

July 25th
 
Today the identity of the captured New Orleans protest shooter was revealed to the public by the FBI. He is allegedly an Iranian spy working for his government. We have no information yet on what he was doing prior to the weekend protests. President Trump tweeted, "As I have been telling you, there is something bad about Iran. I knew something like this would happen. I'm right! We need to be tougher on them. Obama, Hillary, and Kerry have been so pathetic in their Iran deal that they are on track to get nukes in less than a year!"

July 26th

The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, announced that his government was not involved in the New Orleans attack, and that the suspect is not one of their agents or even a citizen of Iran. In a press conference, Trump said that, "As you all know, Iran is a well known sponsor of terrorism. Their leader is lying like they always do about incidents like this. I am calling for tougher action by Congress and the rest of our government in order to stop that regime's monetary and military support for future events of terrorism." Over the past 48 hours, all media attention has been about Iran's involvement in the shooting. The mainstream media has given the President strong support after his tough reaction, as well as American allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UK.

July 27th

Today on the Senate floor, many members of Congress lead by John McCain and Lindsey Graham demand that Congress immediately pass new sanctions on Iran and consider other retaliatory measures. Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi speak together at a joint press conference in an unusual act of bipartisanship to win support for a new sanctions bill that would ban all American foreign trade and transactions with all entities that do business with the Iranian government, and it would give the President the authority to order military force to be used against Iran if he views them as an existential threat against the security of the United States. That morning, the bill was voted on in the House and it passed 375-55. Then, it was unanimously approved by each committee with only minor edits, and that evening, it passed the Senate 84-14. Most notably, Senator Bernie Sanders gave a speech condemning the bill by saying, "This is an unnecessary action that will only bring America one step closer to war against a country that we don't have enough evidence against. I demand that the Trump administration find real proof that he was an agent working for the Iranian government. If we don't have clear, undeniable evidence against the Iranian government, then I will consider this to be a false flag operation designed to bring us into another Middle East war. I will stand my ground for ordinary working Americans who want to live in peace and prosperity rather than the big lobbies who want to spend trillions on a war that will make even more than that in profits for themselves." Senator Ted Cruz gave a speech demanding that "Senator Sanders must apologize for insulting our troops and for giving a speech that denies our government's need to provide an assurance of security for the American people." Meanwhile, Democrats such as Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, and Kamala Harrris stayed silent and voted for the bill while Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkely, Tim Ryan, and Tulsi Gabbard voted against the bill. President Trump tweeted, "Crazy Cuck Bernie just gave a speech defending the Iranian regime that attacked us. He's so weak that if his wife was killed, he'll refuse to retaliate. Sad!!!"


July 28th

This morning, the House of Representatives voted for a final time in favor of the bill 360-70. Then, President Trump signs the bill surrounded by bipartisan congressional leaders, lobbyists, Mike Pence, and Secretaries Tillerson and Mattis along with NSA McMaster. There were only minor protests outside of the Capitol and the White House. Bernie Sanders gave a speech on the steps of the Capitol criticizing Trump, Republicans, and other Democrats who went along with supporting the bill. After Trump signed the bill, Congress went home for August recess where they will rest and plan for brutal debates over a replacement for Obamacare. Meanwhile China and Russia finished construction on their border wall with North Korea.

July 30th
 
At around 4:15 A.M. EST, North Korea launched a nuclear missile that hit the uninhabited Alaskan Aleutian island of Attu. It is highly unlikely that there were any casualties. The island is notable for being the only piece of land of the present day United States to be occupied by the Japanese during WWII. News of the explosion was not released to the public news media for over six hours. When the Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, announced the news in an unplanned press conference, it caused massive panic around the world as global stock markets tank, and governments are put on high alert. The Dow Jones dropped 2000 points before it was closed early and indefinitely. Oil also spiked from $45 to $65 a barrel. When President Trump was briefed about this attack, he decided to not launch a strike against North Korea yet. Instead, he ordered all troops in the Pacific to mobilize for combat and for all idle naval ships in the region to surround and blockade North Korea, and he called the leaders of South Korea and Japan to help coordinate efforts with each other, and they showed solidarity with the United States. Trump spends the rest of the day in the White House in contact with the military, his cabinet, Congress, as well as America's NATO allies, the UN, Xi Xinping and Vladimir Putin. Vice President Pence was taken to a secret location where he can also monitor the situation in safety. That evening at 9 o'clock, the President gave a televised speech from the Oval Office similar as George W. Bush did a generation earlier right after the 9/11 attacks. He had a grim look on his face as he started to give his speech without a teleprompter. "Good evening my fellow patriots. Tonight, I have to announce that our country was attacked by the pathetic regime of North Korea. They launched an ICBM that exploded on an uninhabited island off the coast of Alaska. I don't know if there were any people in the area at the time of the nuclear explosion. This island that has been obliterated off the face of our planet isn't any ordinary island, this specific island should be extremely close to our hearts as nation because it was the only part of America itself that was invaded and occupied by the former tyranny of Japan during World War II. They deliberately chose this piece of land that Americans fought and died for in World War II because they wanted to strike fear into the American psyche and break our relentless resolve. They are also too cowardly to strike a place where people live because they know that I would have turned their little hellhole into a smoking pile of radioactive rubble many hours ago if they did that. They think their action is a winning strategy. I'm telling all of you that they will never succeed in breaking America's sacred spirit. They will fail big time. Today I have been working hard all day long to get our government united and our friends around the world united behind us in our response to the evil North Korean threat. All of them have pledged full support for us in our time of need. I thank them for standing on the side of liberty against Kim Jong Un's tyranny. Now I have a message for the North Korean government. I will not tolerate another attack on U.S. soil or on the soil of any of our allies. I want to make this clear and simple for you, Kim. I promise that we will invade your country, hunt you and your coconspirators down and kill you all if you ever dare to fire another weapon on our land. Also, I will never end the naval blockade of North Korea for as long as the Kim family stays in power and they continue their nuclear program. South Korea, China, and Russia have also agreed to do the same thing. If North Korea wants to trade with the rest of the world and have peaceful relations with us, then the Kim family and his ruling party must relinquish his power, give up all of its nuclear weapons, and allow free elections monitored by international observers that will include Americans. Any country that wishes to offer support to Kim's regime will be punished. We will shoot down any airplane or ship that attempts to enter North Korean airspace or waters and it will be treated as a sign of support by that country for the regime. Ideally this will end peacefully, but I will not hesitate to use force if these terms are violated. God bless our troops. God bless America, and may God bless all freedom loving peoples in the world! Good night!" After President Trump signed off, he received strong bipartisan support from almost all members of Congress, the mainstream media, the military, and America's foreign allies. Most notably, Senator Bernie Sanders approved of the President's speech by saying that North Korea is the the real threat to the United States, and that he intends to support a declaration of war if they strike again. However, Bernie Sanders warns that we must have a smart strategy that will limit bloodshed, only use nuclear weapons as a last resort, and to win the peace in a postwar occupation.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

So, here's another update of my timeline. I wonder what you all think of this chaos. Do you have any questions about specific people, things, places, or events? I would love to get some feedback. You can PM me or post some ideas about what to write next if you want to.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

The Guns of August
July 31st

Today, Kim Jong Un held what he referred to as a victory parade in Pyongyang to celebrate the nuclear attack against the United States. He delivered a boisterous speech where he said, "We delivered a giant fireball of death and destruction to the American imperialist dogs, and they're cowering in fear and they refuse to fight us. America is a paper tiger that thinks its tough, but the reality is that they have never been able to win a war on their own. We must bring the fight to their land, so they can see what their evil empire has been doing around the world for over a hundred years. A strong Korea is a united Korea. I want to liberate our pure, oppressed people in the South and defeat Japan once and for all, and we'll keep those big nosed capitalists out of Asia forever. The time for talk is over. We must attack for our own survival. If they invade our land, we shall fight to the death, the imperialists will not enslave our master race. The orange fool that leads America is intent on starving us all to death. I will not let that happen to our superior people. Remember this my fellow Korean people, we are not slaves to foreign powers, we are gods." At the same time, the North Koreans were sending its navy out of their harbors to face the American ships currently blockading the country.  Kim's speech received plenty of media coverage around the world which infuriated many Americans. In other news, the attack yesterday has led both, the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to pass a resolution orchestrated by Nikki Haley approving of Trump's ultimatum to potentially use force against North Korea with the support of every country except Iran, Syria, Sudan, Qatar, Cuba, Venezuela, the Philippines, some small African nations, and North Korea (of course). Also, Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan have called on members of Congress to return to Washington tomorrow due to the crisis. Meanwhile, people across the West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have been practicing nuclear drills to prepare for a possible attack as many Cold War era bomb shelters have reopened and workers and children have started doing duck and cover drills. Many grocery stores across Western states have been emptied out by families scared of the Apocalypse coming to their homes. In the rest of America many people have been showing support for Trump and the country by purchasing American flags and donating treats for soldiers while a notable minority has been making their presence known by rallying for peace in silent vigils across the major cities. Former Presidents Carter and Obama and many anti-war figures including Bernie Sanders have notably appeared at the Washington peace vigil, and he said, "Let's hope that this situation doesn't turn into a war. Let's pray for peace right now. We need some smart diplomacy right now. We must be responsible and not do anything stupid to cause many people to die for no reason. I promise to hold President Trump accountable if he causes the North Koreans to attack us again, and it results in unleashing unimaginable amounts of horror across the world." These peace vigils are even more common across Europe, Asia, and Latin America in cities such as London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Tokyo, Brussels, Seoul, Mexico City, and Moscow where an estimated total of 10 million people around the world have been attended peace rallies in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Meanwhile, angry protestors in Iran have been taunting America due to its recent hawkish rhetoric by burning effigies of Trump and chanting "death to America." Today, the U.S. military has started sending thousands upon thousands of soldiers to the region, conducting missile defense tests across the Pacific region, and Army, Air Force, and Naval exercises with the South Koreans and Japanese to prepare for a possible invasion. The North Koreans have started installing landmines and underground bunkers all over the country, and they started to give basic military training to children and women to also prepare for the worst. Also, Gallup polling has released their final approval rating of President Trump before the attack which stands at 35% approving and 62% disapproving.

August 1st

Congress has returned to work for the first time following the Attu attack. They immediately got to the work drafting a resolution which blends Trump's ultimatum speech with similar provisions to the recent Iran bill. It was symbolically sponsored by Alaska's Senators, Murkowski and Sullivan, and Representative Young. It was immediately put to a vote on the House floor, and it passed 425-6. Then it moved to the Senate for a vote without any changes in the committees, and it passed 98-1 with every Senator except Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris voting in favor. Sanders abstained from voting while Harris surprised and shocked everyone by voting nay on this bill since she voted for the Iran bill last week. In a press conference shortly afterwards, she gave a nervous, incoherent response when questioned about by saying, "I don't trust this crazy President to deal with a nuclear regime if it strikes again. Trump will lead you to the grave if he invades North Korea....I voted for the Iran resolution because they are the real threat since we need to stop them from getting nukes so we can protect our interests. North Korea isn't nearly as big of a threat. Their leader can't hurt us, but Iran wants to kill all of us." Some observers claimed that she was drunk while speaking, and she was condemned by the White House and her colleagues for her remarks. Soon after that, videos of her doing beer pong with some old college friends at a backyard barbeque over the weekend surfaced on social media which caused both outrage and laughter as she was mercilessly ridiculed on late night comedy shows to offer people a distraction away from the North Korean crisis. That evening in Washington, President Trump signed the North Korea bill to authorize force against North Korea if he deems an "existential threat to the United States by the North Korean government." Trump congratulated Mitch, Ryan, Schumer, and Pelosi for supplying strong bipartisan support during this crisis, and that night, he tweeted that "We must stay tough and persevere through this situation. America will come out on top when this is all over--believe me! Chuck and Nancy seem like great people. Maybe the Democrats are not so bad after all. Kamala the C**t is dead wrong on North Korea, but she does have a point on Iran!" Trump's approval rating has also doubled to 70% since the Attu Nuclear Attack according to Gallup.

[Canis]

Nice!

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

August 2nd

Today, President Trump has decided to send Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow and Beijing for secret negotiations with their leaders. The official story from the State Department was that it was a goodwill trip for Russia and China to show solidarity with the United States after the Attu attack. However, in reality, Trump told Tillerson to negotiate a nonaggression pact with Russia and China over invading North Korea. In exchange for an agreement to not interfere in a Western led regime change in North Korea, the U.S. has agreed to secretly give arms to pro-Russian separatist groups in Ukraine and Georgia and a promise to not attack Syrian government troops. Trump also told Tillerson also to cede hegemony over the East China Sea to the Chinese government and promise that America will get the TPP passed through Congress. Although the pieces of this backroom deal will not be revealed to the public for some time. Meanwhile the world continues to hold its breath over this perilous situation happening right now.

August 4th

In Columbus, Ohio, Governor John Kasich gave a town hall over a wide range of issues. When he was asked about the North Korea crisis, he said, "It's a dangerous time right now. North Korea has attacked us, and they continue to try to provoke us. There are no perfect options that we can take to solve this problem, but we must stay strong and not cower in fear of our enemies. However, we should try to keep the peace while trying to get concessions from the North Koreans. I'm praying for peace right now, but if it doesn't work out, then we should offer total support for our troops to defeat the enemy if it ever reaches that point. We should also keep America and our allies safe from Kim's nuclear threat at any cost. I fully support the resolutions passed by our Congress against our sworn enemies of North Korea and Iran. I think the main focus should be removing the nuclear threat which is the most dangerous aspect of all of this. Also, we should never forget the danger that Iran poses to our national security. We shouldn't let them commit acts of terror on our own streets. That's why I support the measure of strength passed by our government that will allow us to retaliate if it's absolutely necessary. I will always stand on the side of our country and our troops if we end up at war with an adversary, and even though I have my reservations about our President since I haven't forgotten his personal attacks against me, I recognize that he's the one that the American people voted to give their confidence to keep America safe. If he commits any crimes regarding these crises, which I hope he doesn't for the sake of our democracy, then he must be held accountable for them, but we should not cause a collapse in morale for our troops which would endanger them even more. That's why we need calm, steady, stable, and rational leadership right now more than ever before, and I hope Trump surprises me in a good way." In other news, the July jobs report was released with a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.1% and 300,000 jobs were created. This was the strongest jobs report in over two years with unemployment at its lowest level since 2001, and it features strong hiring by defense contractors due to tensions on the Korean peninsula and the healthcare sector because of the Obamacare repeal.

[BigVic]

In OTL, the health care repeal bill failed.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

In OTL, the health care repeal bill failed.

Yeah, I know that but in this timeline Mitch McConnell was a better backroom deal maker and Lisa Murkowski and John McCain were able to be bought off. The vote also happened before McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

August 6th

Today, President Trump visited Pearl Harbor to give speeches to the troops. He gave a bombastic speech on an aircraft carrier saying that, "We will reduce North Korea to a pile of rubble very soon if they ever lay a finger on us. We will triumph over their tiny little country. We must make America great again all over the world as well as at home. We will be kings again. I'm not going to put America last like every other President over the past 30 years. We need to try some new tactics in order to achieve the new greatness of which we haven't used in so many decades. Our enemies don't fear us anymore. We have let their loathing of America get the best of us for far too long. Our previous leaders who were submissive to the so called "New World Order" led by cucks who chose to overrun our proud Western nations with enemies who seek to destroy our society which you the people and your forefathers have worked tirelessly to build just so that they can submit to foreign countries who aim at destroying our ways of life. I am asking that all patriotic Americans who work virtuously for our country to join me in forging a new path--one which will put America back on that golden throne and our enemies back in their hellholes where they belong. Just as our great military works endlessly to protect our people from outside enemies, we shouldn't let our enemies try to compromise us from within. We must be just as vigilant in our fight of the enemies at home as in our battles abroad. That means we need to keep subversives in the media and our government out of sight, so they don't use their influence for terroristic treasonous purposes to turn our own people against American greatness. We must bring all of our enemies to justice, so we can finally make America great again." Trump was met with a roaring applause from the troops while commentators on TV news argued with each other over the content of the President's speech with some saying that we must support our leader during a dangerous crisis that can easily boil over any second, while some other journalists called his speech inappropriate and Orwellian. In other news, the Trump administration announced plans to start a taxpayer funded White House cable and internet news channel. Most members of Congress refuse to comment about that.

August 8th

According to opinion polling, Trump's job approval rating rose slightly to 75%, and 85% of Americans support retaliation against North Korea if they launch another nuclear strike on U.S. soil while 70% support retaliating if they attack an American ally. Also, 60% of Americans currently support an American sponsored regime change in Iran. In Congress today, a couple of bills were introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton to start a White House news station as well as to form a new committee designed to "investigate unpatriotic influences designed to compromise American national security interests on the homeland." This committee would be named the Senate Committee to Investigate Suspicious Unpatriotic Persons Against American Security (SCISUPAAS). It was soon nicknamed the "Sisyphus" committee. Some members of the Senate including Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkely, Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, Sherrod Brown, Chris Murphy, Angus King, and Rand Paul criticized the bill claiming that it aims to take away civil liberties while other Senators, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Dianne Feinstein, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bob Menendez, and all of the "Angry New Hampshire Women", came out in support of this idea, while Cory Booker, Debbie Stabenow, Tammy Baldwin, Joe Manchin, Kamala Harris, Bill Nelson, Susan Collins, Joe Donnelly, John McCain, Chuck Schumer, and Jeff Flake have refused to comment. President Trump and Vice President Pence gave enthusiastic endorsements of these bills. Meanwhile, the U.S., South Korea, Japan continue to conduct exercises around the Peninsula while North Korea continues to prepare within its own borders even as food and supplies start running low. At 11:55 P.M. EST, the North Koreans shot down an American fighter jet that entered about 100 yards into North Korean airspace along its western coast.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

'We are gods' - Kim-Jong Un
lol

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

What do you all think of my timeline featuring tensions with North Korea that are more severe than in real life and a successful Obamacare repeal? Please give me some feedback.

[Shadows]

This is fun. Kamala Harris seems as clueless as she is in her Senate briefings. I hope we Lyin' Ted doing something Crooked & Cory Booker being bought off by some industry or just some fun incidents. Maybe Trump sends an American whore to entice Kim or whatever.

Good so far, just add a little more humour !

[Canis]

Is this timeline super dead?

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Is this timeline super dead?

Big update coming this weekend. It lives!

[The Govanah Jake]

Is this timeline super dead?

Big update coming this weekend. It lives!

Ripty rip.